


Sturmfahrt

by the_lie_eternal



Category: Eisbrecher
Genre: AU, Angst, Angst and Drama, Drama, Emotions, Lorelei - Freeform, Sailors, This is a mashup of the album sturmfahrt and the comic in the ewiges eis box, blood tw, eisland, i listened to sturmfahrt and this fic popped up, one chap for each album song, titles are in german but fic is not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 17:03:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19909174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_lie_eternal/pseuds/the_lie_eternal
Summary: Mit Volldampf voran, auf in den Untergang.A story of five fearless men on their stormride to an unknown destination.





	1. Was Ist Hier Los?

**Author's Note:**

> Eisland is not Iceland but rather some fictional island populated by seawomen and men. Enjoy this wild ride as much as our crew does!

Something was different that one early morning in Eisland’s capital city, the harbor had never been this well visited, not even on national holidays. It seemed as if the whole population of the anyway rather rural island was up on their feet to see the spectacle – the almighty “Lorelei” leaving together with its crew.

What was so special about this ship and the five men standing below the ladder leading up to the deck of it? It was Alexander Wesselsky, first of the five men, printing his mission call in every newspaper and hanging the posters against almost every wall he could find. Alex was a well-known seaman on Eisland, as fame as a modern rockstar would be, and owner of the “Lorelei”.

_You want it too, what’s holding you back?_

_Who can resist when we’re going onto stormride?_

_Full steam ahead into our doom_

_There is no homecoming from this journey_

_~ Applications to A. Wesselsky, only fearless seamen wanted ~_

There was most certainly nobody who didn’t read this call and who didn’t want to go on a journey with the most famous of all sailors on the wide ocean?

Alex was not joking, he would never return to Eisland ever again, onto a journey to unknown eternity. Many jumped off as they became aware that the Captain was not kidding, that he wanted a crew to ride to hell with him, reasons behind completely unknown. Who would possibly be this stupid to climb onto a ship with no destination, with the assurance to never see your beloved island again? The four men standing in line next to the famous sailor were.

First one in the row was Noel Pix, his wide knowledge about every kind of technology which brought him into jail years ago made him stand proud as Chief Officer of the crew. He was just released from his so-called second home as he saw the call and he didn’t even hesitate to apply. Why would Alex make a known criminal part of his crew? Noel seeked for freedom and a chance to get away from his illegal doings of sabotage. Seeing this side of him was rare, the regret of his crimes and his want to get away from spending half of his life locked up in a cage. He saw the journey as a new beginning and he was more than glad to never return home ever again.

Next one in line was Rupert Keplinger, youngest of the crew and the sight of the people crying over his departure was odd to look at. It was known to the majority of the young adults on the island that Rupert was probably the most “famous” single man of the population. It took the group – he called them fanclub – a bit to realize they all shared a bed with him at least once and it was more than just awkward for most of them. Rupert himself found it hilarious and as he announced that he would be part of the “Lorelei”-crew, he met entirely negative replies, why he would throw away his life like this. Little did they know, as funny as a life on almost daily one-night-stands seemed from the outside, he was never really happy with it. He was good at flirting and his looks were quite some help but only the elderly people knew that Rupert was one of the best ship mechanics on the whole island, right from his childhood into adulthood, before the other human need somehow took over his life. The crew would need a mechanic and it was his jump to get back to his actual passion and away from a “hobby” that consumed his life more than he ever wanted. It was like a detox for him and he didn’t mind that there wasn’t going to be a homecoming.

Jürgen Plangger, nicknamed JP, was the oddest sight in the crew itself, the people knew him as a family man, it was known that he actually had a wife and even two children. He wasn’t the greatest seaman, that was also a fact aware for anyone, it was told the wounds all over his body came from the countless tries he attempted to just get onto a small boat. Nobody knew why JP applied or why Alex even chose him in the end. His family stood silently aside, his wife disappointed and his kids way too young to understand their father would never return again. He compensated his bad knowledge of seafaring with his skills as a family man, he would be the one to organize, to keep the ship clean and to keep his other mates from starving. Who would’ve known at this point that JP was not trying to escape his duties as a father and his reasons rooted deeper than the people knew?

Last one was a certain Achim Färber and it was weird to say but nobody had ever seen him before. Living on the island for a few years actually made you know each other, there wasn’t such things as isolated towns or hidden caves where people lived cut off the civilization. The only facts that were known about him were the things Alex introduced him as – he seemingly was the most excellent navigator found on the island, an adventurer as Achim called himself. Only he was aware of his reasons why he would climb onto the “Lorelei”, he wasn’t even surprised that nobody seemed to know him, as he was a silent fellow among the usual talkative population of Eisland. Most of his time he spent in the wilderness, maybe that added to the mystery about him. He was the only of the five men who went onto the journey purely of interest and want for a new adventure. He wasn’t a great loss to anyone anyway.

Alex was proud of his ship, the probably best ship ever built on the island. She wasn’t the biggest but definitely the strongest, to survive any stormride, as the Captain explained. It was a weird day on the island, a weird scene on the harbor of the capital, as the beautiful ship left with the most questionable crew on it. The four men that Alex chose didn’t know each other yet, so the first hours and days on the journey of their doom were spent with countless introductions and conversations. It was also there when the Captain announced the rules they’d have to follow on his ship:

  1. No disputes and fights
  2. Equality among the crew
  3. No one gets left behind



It sounded simple but sooner or later the men would be disobedient and Alex was aware of it. He was an experienced Captain, there was nothing he couldn’t solve on his own deck and he was sure of that.


	2. Besser

“That was quite an impressive group of people who gave you their farewell at the harbor, fuckboy.” Noel raised his brow with a grin at the man who stood next to him at the railing, looking out onto the ocean.

“We all have different talents. I actually wanted to get away from it by stepping onto this ship, you know? It is not as funny as it seems like, to be honest. How many times I’ve already put my hands on the Lorelei, I know the thing we are standing on currently like my way into people’s pants. I want to be a mechanic again, and not a “famous playboy”. How about you? Why would the Captain make a criminal his Chief Officer?” Rupert rambled with a smirk on his face before he greeted Achim and JP who joined the twine at the railing. It was a wonderful sundown they were looking at; a sight people would die for.

“What are you up to?” Achim asked to take his part in the conversation.

“We’re talking about people we want to miss, I guess, and the reasons why we ended up here.” Noel replied and continued “As stupid as this sounds but I’m tired of wasting my times with crimes and jail. Not to say this ship isn’t a special kind of jail but at least I chose to be here, met too many shitty people in my life which made me strive off my path as technology mastermind. You probably understand me pretty well, Rupert, going back to the roots and forgetting the things that ruined my life in a way. How about you two?” he asked the other two crew members. JP’s gaze was fixed on the soft water so the navigator spoke up.

“Have you seen how the people looked at me? Nobody on this island knew who I was and that is actually pretty nice. I’ve always been an adventurer, a silent one for sure, but an adventurer. There was nothing left for me on the island, I documented ever single corner of Eisland. This journey seemed like a great opportunity to jump over my shadow and just leave it behind. Furthermore, you guys seemed nice enough to endure, I actually deeply dislike people around me. I’m a single fighter.” Achim spoke about his reasons, Noel commenting “I get you why you hate people.” with a nod.

At the same time, Rupert noticed someone sobbing next to him, confused he took his gaze from the sun and looked over to JP, who still stared at the water with tears in his eyes. Carefully he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, gently calming him.

“Are you crying because each of us actually has a reason to be here and you’re just a guy who’s so bad at sailing that he constantly falls off the boat? What a luck you are still standing here!” Noel laughed, being silenced by Rupert hissing at him. “Shut up, let him talk.”

“I am actually pretty decent at sailing.” JP muttered and brushed his eyes dry. “It’s just that I needed an excuse, a reason why my skin is basically made of wounds, bruises and scars.”

“What happened to you?” Achim asked and too walked over to comfort the seaman.

“I wanted to get away from my wife and children, at all cost. This is so embarrassing … my children robbed me of my sanity ever since and my wife … she beat me. And those weren’t just slaps, she really beat me up for no reason and … I could never speak up about it because … what’s a guy who’s getting hit by his own wife?” JP sighed and sunk his head onto the railing. The Chief Officer was heard suppressing his laughter, bad enough he was giving exactly the reaction JP feared so much. Achim and Rupert didn’t laugh, though.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. Thank you for letting us know still.” the navigator nodded and Rupert joined him, helping the third seaman calming down.

The thought of Noel showing absolutely not compassion made the other three crew members shake internally. How would they be able to survive the rest of their lives on small space with this guy? Who was most of all even the second in command?


	3. Sturmfahrt

With an uncomfortable bang the Captain fell onto the ground, just seconds before he was calmly sleeping in his private quarters’ bed. Confused, Alex crawled onto his feet and gave a quick look out of the small window. That short sight was enough for him to rush over his wardrobe, putting on his uniform as fast as he could and in not even a minute he was already seen running all the way upwards to the ship bridge.

Stormride.

“What have you done?” Alex shouted as he spotted Noel and Achim helplessly trying to somehow pilot the Lorelei through the storm. “And where are Jürgen and Rupert?” he added and checked the deck for the two missing men, which was luckily empty.

“They are in their quarter, JP began panicking so Roop decided to calm him somehow below deck, escaping the storm.” Achim began explaining “I haven’t done anything, ask our dear Chief Officer!”

Alex rolled his eyes, he forgot he manned this ship with pure amateurs. He had seen much worse storms, this one was merely even a storm in his eyes. Annoyed the Captain pushed Noel away from the controls, just a few moments later the ship already swam much calmer, even though the weather didn’t change at all.

“How?” Noel exclaimed, Achim took the chance to leave the bridge, looking after the two remaining seamen.

“Experience. It was stupid of me to select amateurs to be my crew. Yes, even you, Pix.” Alex sighed disappointed. The basic difference between him and his crew was that he knew how to not be afraid of storms. The storm knew if the one piloting the ship was in fear or not. Noel tried to use the old sailor advices, those which were outdated for decades but still taught in school till that day. A stormride needed a real seaman, a captain as Alex was. He was one with his ship and Noel silently watched him navigating the Lorelei out of the storm, until the star sky was visible again and only a slight sea breeze was felt outside.

“You’re an idol of sailing.” the Chief Officer murmured and stepped closer towards the first in command.

“Shut up and learn.” Alex stated, leaving the bridge to Noel again. “Don’t get us into another storm or you’re going to be last in command. Good night.” he added and slammed the door shut behind him. In moments like these he thought that this journey was a mistake, but then again that’s exactly what he wanted.

Rupert was standing arms crossed in front of his and JP’s quarters, Achim approaching him with a confused look on his face.

“He’s vomiting and I didn’t want to watch that.” Rupert explained with a raised brow.

“JP is seasick?” Achim asked, receiving a nod from the other man. It wasn’t the cleverest decision of JP to join the stormride in his horrible physical state but it was his only way out of his misery marriage, now he had to pay for it.

Said man silently sat on the ground of Rupert’s and his bathroom, just waiting for the next wave, literally. The Captain finding out about this would kill him, he thought.

“I should’ve just killed myself, throwing myself off the deck and drown.” he murmured to himself, wrapping his arms around his legs. JP was shaking, a living nightmare he lived through just because he had the luck of running from one misery into another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for nothing!


	4. In einem Boot

“Whoever decided to live until the end of days with this canned bullshit deserves to be thrown off deck.” JP muttered towards himself, standing in the small kitchen of the ship. It was around late afternoon, him preparing the needed meal for the rest of the crew while parts of them were either still sleeping or up in the bridge. The recent storm laid already a few days back, however JP still didn’t recover entirely from it. Every small wave, an odd shaking of the ship or anything that might make him stumble triggered his body and most of all his stomach – this time wasn’t an exception.

He stood at the railing nearest to the entrance to the quarters, staring at the horizon after he once again emptied his stomach into the water. He was shaking, not only did the constant need to throw up hurt him physically, mentally he became more and more unstable with every incident.

“Why didn’t you tell me, we would’ve found a solution much earlier.” a well-known voice was heard next to JP, on which said guy flinched together. Alexander carefully laid his arm around his crew members’ shoulder, leading him back into the much dryer quarters.

“You would’ve never chosen me, knowing that I’ve got a seasickness.” JP muttered, sitting down on a chair back in the kitchen, the Captain placed himself next to him.

“Jürgen, please.” Alex chuckled and placed his cap onto the table. “I chose you because I wanted to give you a chance to start anew, a seasickness is nothing bad and I know several tricks to prevent it.” The Captain seemed so much less intimidating to JP in this moment. Alexander always seemed like the guy you don’t want to mess with, from the stories his former seamen told he stood on the brink of death more than just once, they told he’s basically a spirit-like creature. He can calm storms just by the power of his will.

Well, JP didn’t believe in fairytales and at least in this moment he saw the pure human in his Captain. He was a very experienced sailor, nothing more.

“Sometimes I think I’m worthless on this ship.” JP murmured after a short silent while. At least he felt better since the other man appeared. As if he calmed the storm in his stomach.

“The Lorelei doesn’t work on buff and badass seamen knowing how to ride her through the waves only. Being a navigator is one thing. Being part of the crew is another thing. What’s the most heroic Captain without his beloved canned soup? To be honest, Jürgen, I may be good at navigating, but I would burn water by cooking it. I know shit about cleaning my own clothes. Nobody is talented in everything.” Alex chuckled, patting the shoulder of the man opposite of him, making that one smile too.

“Well, you’re right in a way.” JP nodded, raising from his seat to continue preparing the food for his hungry friends.

“Of course I am.” the Captain raised his brow, following the movements of his crew member, however leaving the quarters to pay Achim a visit on the bridge.

“Are you aware that three out of four people on this ship don’t like you.” Rupert murmured as he was laying in his bed, scribbling his personal log-book. He and Noel were alone in the sleeping quarters, ready to take the late shift to take care of the Lorelei.

“I am. I’m not a likeable person.” said man sighed. He too laid in his bed at the other end of the room, staring holes into the ceiling.

“That’s not an excuse to be an asshole. JP doesn’t deserve to be treated like that, not after what he endured before he stepped onto this ship.” the seaman raised his brow and stored his notebook back in his personal small storage. Then he raised himself to sit on the edge of the bed he laid on.

“Can’t help it.” Noel played it off trying to be easy but Rupert wasn’t to be satisfied like this.

“Other than you I respect the Captain’s rules. Else I would punch the shit out of you now.” he hissed.

“As if you would. Why do you even defend JP that much? Does he pay you or something?” Noel laughed, seconds later being caught off guard by a hand wrapping around his neck, pulling him upwards. Rupert had to contain himself to not merciless choke his crewmate. He wanted, he really wanted to.

“Be careful.” was all that the seaman growled into the Chief Officer’s face before throwing him back onto his bed, not wasting any more attention on him by leaving the quarters right away.

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with, punk.” Noel muttered as the door was smashed shut.


	5. Automat

Achim tried his hardest to stop the fight between the Chief Officer and the seaman. He was just on the bridge as he spotted Noel and Rupert shouting at each other, after anchoring the ship in its current location he rushed from his navigation spot to part the two crewmembers. By the time he arrived on the deck, fists were already flying and the blood puddles on the wet wooden flood didn’t look quite tasty. To his luck, JP too rushed at the happening, probably being alerted by their not quite silent shouting.

“The Captain, quick!” Achim pointed at the quarters while giving JP a panicked look, said man just nodded and ran over to said location. The navigator couldn’t prevent getting a few hits into his face while trying to part the two fighting men. It wasn’t easy to make out why they were hitting each other in the first place, all that he heard were several insults being thrown between them and he even thought hearing JP’s name a few times, but he didn’t give further attention to that.

“HEY!” a loud shout was heard, both fighting men and Achim flinching together by the voice echoing over the whole ocean. Quickly the Navigator retreated, walking over to JP as he saw the Captain approaching the scene. They both shuddered, first of all they had never seen Alex being this angry, second of all was the view of Rupert and Noel being covered in blood and wounds not a very exciting thing to see.

“Can one of you dumbasses explain why you’re dirtying my ship with your filthy blood?” the Captain growled and it made the whole crew tremble, internally just as externally.

“It’s just, N-“ Rupert brushed away some blood below his nose and wanted to set the facts but Noel interrupted him.

“That idiot hit me first, for absolutely no reason! I just defended myself, he’s guilty not me!” the Chief Officer exclaimed and would Alex not stand between them, Rupert would’ve lost another hit in the other man’s face.

“For the love of Poseidon, Pix, shut up.” the Captain gently pushed his second in command away from his opponent, putting his attention back on Rupert. Said man was more than just ashamed of what he did and his regret was visible even for the other two crew members.

“I didn’t want to violate your rules. Noel’s been insulting JP for weeks now, behind his back obviously. I told him so many times, everyone on this ship is equal, no fights allowed and whatever but he didn’t listen to me. And now … I couldn’t hold myself back anymore, I couldn’t listen to his insults anymore and then my hands slipped. I hit him first, but I had my reasons. I’m sorry, Alex.” Rupert calmly explained, pressing a cloth that Achim gave to him onto his bleeding nose.

“Is that true, Chief Officer?” Alex turned his gaze towards the other man, who angrily spat out some blood onto the floor.

“It is. Can’t you see how useless this guy is? He doesn’t even know the difference between a ship and a boat! Why did you allow this thing to be in your crew?” he replied, obviously pissed off.

“Why did I allow something like you in my crew, that’s the greater question now. JP, take care of Rupert, Achim you go back on spot. You, Chief Officer, clean up the deck and then yourself. I want you in my quarter as soon as you’re done. Dismissed.” Alex sighed, giving a nod to the two other crewmembers before heading back where he came from.

“Stop moving, Cap told me to patch you up so I will do it.” Jürgen hissed as Rupert continuously tried to push his hands away from his face. They sat in the silent crew quarter, JP successfully cleaning off the last bit of blood off Rupert’s body. “Does anything else than your nose and head hurt?”

“My ribs, on the left side.” Rupert muttered, brushing over the band aid his nose was covered in.

“Can I take a look?” JP asked, met by a slight reddened face of his crewmember, which was certainly not because of the bloodstains. “What?” he added with a slight laugh.

“Well, that’s a bit awkward but it would be better if you check on it, I guess.” Rupert stated, only hesitatingly taking off his shirt. Their ship had been on the sea for several months now already but JP realized that – other than the rest of the crew – Rupert was never seen shirtless before. The piece of clothing laying on the bed, it was visible why the seaman didn’t want to show his upper body.

“Your life must’ve been wild before you stepped on this ship. Come on, let me look at your bruises … I mean those which Noel caused you.” JP found it hard to not laugh about the view in front of him. He tried to concentrate on the reddened spot on the side of Rupert’s torso, but the scars most certainly coming from more than just one pair of fingernails were quite distracting. “Are you really that good?” JP raised a brow at his mate, making both of them laugh eventually.

“Ask them, not me. My scars speak but I no longer understand the language of love.” the seaman replied casually as JP too wrapped a band aid around his chest area.

“The sea doesn’t do you well, my friend.” JP continued laughing, helping Rupert back into his shirt. He liked being close to his mate. He was fascinated by the fact someone like Rupert took the bullets for him, that he would defend him like this. Friends were rare for JP, in his previous life just as on this ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you smell the tension ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	6. Eisbär

It felt weird for all crew members to stand on solid land-mass after months and months of living on the Lorelei. It wasn’t planned to make a halt on this seemingly endless island of snow, but the ship needed important fixings which weren’t possible to do mid-ocean. As Alex and Rupert were busy with their ship, the other three crew-members decided to take a walk over the island for a bit, as they couldn’t help the mechanic doing his work.

Both JP and Achim didn’t dare to ask what happened between Noel and the Captain as the Chief Officer was called into the quarters after the incident with Rupert. All they noticed was Noel’s obvious changed behavior, he didn’t talk as much as he used to, he tried to go out of Rupert’s way and all in all the reckless and rude Chief Officer seemed to belong to the past. JP didn’t like that. True, he didn’t like being insulted by Noel either but with this new behavior he was even more difficult to estimate.

“Achim, say, you have adventure experience?” JP asked his fellow seaman as they stepped over the endless fields of snow. All he actually wanted was to start a basic conversation and not trigger this fatal happening right in front of them.

“I do, like track reading and that funky stuff, for example here … here … wait that’s actually …” Achims enthusiasm faded as quick as he grasped it as he saw the prints in the snow, slowly raising their gazes upwards as a seemingly giant polar bear built itself up in front of them.

“Fuck.” Noel muttered, staring into the eyes of the beast. The gaze felt familiar, almost as if he looked into these eyes more than just once in his life. However, Noel never saw a polar bear in real life before, it just couldn’t be.

“I don’t want to say I am afraid but I genuinely am.” Achim murmured, grabbed both his fellow crew members and rushed back into the direction where they came from. The polar bear was heard roaring, making the sailors shake, before walking after the fleeing men.

“You hear that? Can it be?” Alex muttered, tapping Rupert’s shoulder but said man was busy enough with fixing their boat, he didn’t pay attention to what his captain said, neither to the noise approaching them.

“Attack of the amateurs …” the Captain added and walked towards the three men approaching. He smiled when the spotted the bear in a distance behind them. It meant no danger.

“Cap! Cap, can you believe!” JP shouted, out of breath and stamina from running. Alex sighed, shaking his head as his crew members ran past him. Even Rupert was distracted by his crew’s doing, checking on the happenings.

“I can.” Alex said, his men standing behind him as if he would singlehandedly be able to fight a full grown polar bear in a box-fight. It was a weird image to look at, three men hiding behind their Captain while the mechanic watched from a safe distance, a polar bear standing just a few meters in front of them. Alexander had no fear. He had seen worse.

It was quiet, the bear growling at the Captain before keeping eye contact with said man. As if it was a human, not an animal. Alexander nodded, before to the surprise of all other men the bear turned around, walking back among the snowy dunes.

“What in seven hells did I just see?” Noel raised his voice, staring at the Captain.

“Experience, Pix. Purely experience.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My gosh, Alex.


	7. Der Wahnsinn

“This is madness, absolute madness … we are going to hell … to hell …” the Chief Officer muttered, eyes squinted and curled together in his bed. JP flinched together as he realized Noel wasn’t sleeping as he guessed but rather had a panic attack building up. The younger man knew this feeling way too well and even if there was a wedge between the two seaman, JP wouldn’t sit and watch his fellow crewmember shattering, too often he had been in that situation himself and how much he had wished for someone to comfort him.

“Do you, perhaps, need some help?” JP murmured and slowly approached the bed at the other end of the room. Noel opened his eyes, giving a hateful look over to the other man. He cursed, JP should’ve been the least to catch him having a breakdown.

“I’ve seen hell on earth, JP. Not even you can help me.” Noel hissed and turned his gaze away from the other man, staring holes into the air. JP didn’t reply, all he did was sitting down next to Noel, taking a few deep breaths. He couldn’t force himself and his help onto Pix but he hoped the Chief Officer would soften up soon enough.

“Alexander, he’s not from this world.” Noel murmured, pushing himself upwards to face the other crewmember.

“Just because he’s a better sailor than all of us?” JP smirked, but it wasn’t funny at all to the Chief Officer.

“The polar bear, it had his eyes. This wasn’t some wild animal, it was tamed by our Captain, why ever he wanted it to attack us. He’s haunting my head, I hear his voice inside of me.” he explained. JP raised his brows, the ocean must’ve gotten its first victim, turning his fellow seaman into madness. True, that polar bear incident had rather something spiritual in a way and JP knew about Alex’ out-of-world sailing talent, yet he was aware of the fact that spirits, or some kind of magic, doesn’t exist.

“Noel, I think you’re turning slightly insane, we should tell the others about that.” JP murmured, met by instant flaming up of the pure panic in Pix’ eyes.

“Don’t tell the Captain, don’t tell this weird being!” he begged as if the other men held a gun against his head to end his life. “Please, please keep this between us. I’m sorry, Jürgen, for all I’ve done to you. I do anything you want, just don’t tell anyone about my weakness, my vulnerability!”

JP gulped. Should he trust Noel? Not only that he sounded like insanity itself, the fact that he was sorry all of a sudden was questionable. He would try it, Pix wasn’t forgiven for everything he did to both JP and Rupert, but they all had to move on sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit shorter bunch of story here but the situation didn't give me more than this BONDING MOMENT xD  
> Next chaps will be longer again and be uploaded regularly as usual again.


	8. Herz Auf

Rupert was just on his way to the bridge to check on the navigators, when he heard JP’s voice from the clothing stash, muttering inaudible things. Was he talking with himself?

“… but then there’s also Rupert and the Captain and I really …” Rupert opened the door, met by a face of a man caught doing something horrible, it felt like. It was JP, indeed, and he was alone. Rupert had to chuckle.

“You’re talking with yourself, buddy. I also heard my name, what’s going on?” the mechanic asked, meeting a deeply blushing face of the other man.

“That … doesn’t matter … much.” JP murmured. He wanted to tell Rupert, he wanted his mate to know what was happening to Noel, but at the same time he promised to not tell anybody.

“Did Noel do something to you? Does he threaten you?” Rupert quickly shifted into the room, closing the door behind him so that they could talk in peace.

“No but … ugh I shouldn’t tell you this but … Rupert, basically Noel is starting to become insane, he keeps having panic attacks and he talks about Alexander being a monster or whatever. I am worried about him, really. About all of us, actually.” the older man murmured, avoiding eye contact because he pretty much seemed insane by himself at this point.

“Well, one of us it would hit sooner or later, didn’t expect Pix to be the first though.” Rupert raised his brow.

Noel felt how tight his grip around the controls of the ship were and how his brain had more and more blackouts more frequently. He needed a rest, standing on the bridge for too long made him nauseous.

“Achim, could you take the controls for a while, I need a rest, I guess.” he murmured, pinching the top of his nose with his fingers. It felt like migraine, but worse – however he should define what he felt like.

“No problem. If you spot Roop or the Captain, you could send them up here perhaps?” Achim replied, putting down the countless maps he held in his hands before. Noel nodded, stumbling towards the door. Now it felt like he was drunk, way too drunk for his likings. Seasickness, perhaps? He couldn’t say what it was.

The actually short way to the quarters felt like an eternity, Noel was sure he couldn’t even see things properly anymore, he was going to pass out or something. Then he saw a blue glow in front of him, and all of a sudden his vision became clear.

And the last thing he felt before he lost his conscience was a horrible scream coming from his throat. Then it became dark around him.


	9. Krieger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't ask, just read. It's been 7 Months.

Rupert and JP were seen desperately trying to care for their hurt mate, as much as they disliked Noel for his actions. He was still part of the crew, the Chief Officer even. Said man laid on his creaky bed in the sleeping quarters, visibly in deep pain and struggle with his cramps he continuously fought with. They were powerless, the thought of their colleague dying on them returned more in their minds than they wished for and all in all would they prefer a harbour and a town rather than endless masses of salty water around them and no external help in reach.

"I don't want to bury a crewmember, Roop." JP muttered as Noel finally had a short moment of even breathing, the cramps readying themselves for the next wave.

"We should tell the Captain. This is serious matter, we need his help." Rupert sighed, visibly tense. JP nodded, flinching as another pained scream reached their ears.

"Are you serious???" Achim shook his head as he heard the command of his Captain, hoping that he just misheard the words of the man in power.

"Did I hesitate? Do it!" Alexander shouted, turning the steering wheel by himself into the direction of the giant storm-cloud at horizon. The navigator couldn't believe what he was witnessing with his own eyes, the Captain rushing back onto the deck where JP was seen dragging the Chief Officer over the wet and slippery wooden floor just as it started to rain and the storm built up in front of the ship almost immediately.

_ Noel was dying while the Lorelei readied itself for another stormride. _

Alex had sent each of his crew inside of the quarters, this moment would only happen between him, his ship, the storm and Noel - who slowly but firmly got cursed by the gods of the ocean for not believing in them and most of all himself. He waited until the dark clouds cradled them and he could work in peace, and when the first lightbolt crashed onto the deck it went black for each of the crewmembers.

Noel blinked, endless darkness ruling around him except a faint soft and blue light. The pain was gone, at least for that moment, so Noel decided to crawl onto his feet to approach the ghost-like blueish.

A splash of water as he tried to touch the light woke him up back onto the deck of the ship. Confused he stared into four worried faces, not knowing where he was, why he ended up on this situation and why everyone seemed so relieved once he opened his eyes.

The hot ocean-sun was shining into his face and everything seemed as usual.


End file.
